Among other well-known statues carved from lyknites is the statue of Rome’s first emperor (and Caligula’s great-grandfather) known as the Augustus Prima Porta, which was found in a private villa of Augustus’s wife, Livia.Ĭonservator Greg Byrne and VMFA Curator Peter Schertz examine the break between the head and neckĪfter the removal of Caligula’s head (left) the drilled hole in the head where marble sample was removed This fine-grained, pure white marble was quarried on the Aegean island of Paros and was highly prized in antiquity. The analysis revealed an almost exact correlation of the marble samples, leaving no reasonable doubt that the body and head are from a single block of Parianlyknites marble. (Raking samples from the interior of the break ensured that the marble samples had not been contaminated by environmental factors). Researchers took small samples of marble from both sides of the exposed surfaces of the break for stable isotopic analysis.
This rod had been inserted in holes drilled in the torso and head and was held in place by a hard epoxy that had to be removed by mechanical means.
This involved the removal of a copper rod that probably dated to the statue’s nineteenth century restoration. To this end, conservators undid the 1971 restoration of the head in order to physically separate the head from the body. That we should undertake a new conservation campaign focused on the statue with two goals: (1) to determine whether the head and body of the statue are from a single block of marble and, therefore, “belong” and (2) to adjust the position of the head. The NEH-funded study of Caligula’s polychromy led directly to my decision VMFA Portrait Statue of Caligula wearing a toga purpurea
Below is the marble portrait and the color reconstruction done by CPN, one of the early efforts of that group to show that “Greek and Roman sculptures were colorful.” This study and restoration of a bust of Caligula was conducted by the Copenhagen Polychromy Network, an interdisciplinary research partnership. VMFA’s Caligula was a particularly strong candidate for such an intense study because much of the recent scholarship on Greek and Roman polychromy has concentrated on works of Greek art (many of which were showcased in the traveling exhibition-and catalogue- Gods in Color, originating from the work of German archeologist Vinenz Brinkman) so the study of a major example of Roman art could significantly add to our knowledge.Īlso, one of the most fascinating studies of a polychromed Roman work, which precedes the study of the Richmond statue, was on a portrait of Caligula at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, an art museum in Copenhagen with a focus on ancient sculpture. Not pictured: Steven Fine, John Pollini, Jan Stubbe Østergaard, Eric Varner Mark Abbe, Bernard Frischer, Vasily Rudich, Peter Schertz, Kathy Gillis, Paolo Liverani, Caligula team members in front of the statue, December 3, 2011